


A Picture's Worth A Thousand Hearts

by cream_pudding



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Brooding, Canon Compliant, Falling In Love, Gummiphones (Kingdom Hearts), M/M, Photographs, Secret Crush, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25044487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cream_pudding/pseuds/cream_pudding
Summary: Riku's feelings dawn on him as Sora sends him selfies while hopping around the worlds.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 75





	A Picture's Worth A Thousand Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Written back when I was playing through KH3. My exploration of Riku's feelings about his best friend. Please note, this ends unresolved.

Riku's phone chimes in his vest pocket. He goes digging for it, amazed at its ability to receive a message this far-flung out in the middle of nowhere. It is Sora again sending him yet another photo. 

It's been nothing but emblems of Mickey's head in the clouds, on rockfaces and random walls, of dishes Sora has been making, and also a deluge of photos of Sora, Donald, and Goofy posing together. 

Riku smiles. Sora is getting better at not getting his thumb to cover the lens and Riku can actually see some of the scenery; there are huge robots in a hanger but it looks odd to Riku. A long message suddenly gets delivered full of typos and capitalizations because Sora is _that_ excited. Riku can piece together that Sora has been shrunk and before he ever even can type out a message that he wants to see Sora to get a better idea of the place he’s in, Sora sends him a selfie of his toy transformation. Riku laughs and a brief conversation ensues about action figures.

Sora sends another photo of a poster and Riku stares at some person that kind of sort of looks like him. It is perplexing.

###### 

Sora is at it again, sending photos. This time it's a room full of doors hanging on rails. Riku reads the message attached and can hear Sora's excited voice in his head as he explains that these doors all lead to different worlds. Riku finishes reading when another message pops through.

Apparently Sora has shifted into a monster. Riku thinks he makes a pretty cute monster and coughs at that thought. He quickly sends a response and pockets the phone, returning his attention to Mickey who just looks at him with an amused glint in his eyes and hands on his hips.

“You done now?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

###### 

Time passes. Riku is elated when he meets up with Sora again at the Mysterious Tower. It is brief but highlights how much he misses being around Sora… in person. All the photos and messages don’t shine a light to Sora in the flesh.

And Sora in the flesh is something Riku suddenly thinks far too much about. It’s brought on by the chime of his phone and an excited message from Sora about being a pirate again. A photo follows mere moments after and Riku stares at his best friend in that big hat, big grin, grime on his cheeks, looking in his element amongst sand and sea. Riku gets flashes of being back at Destiny Islands, a lifetime ago, back when the world was small, and he knew nothing. Memories flood him about how different he was—the things he felt and thought. His mind naturally draws to Sora and how he’s still the same kid Riku had met on Destiny Islands: his goofy grin, boundless enthusiasm, and eternal hope in his eyes. Yet, he’s also changed. Sora is somehow _more_. Better. _Stronger_. He looks tall in that photo, even as the ship in the sea close to the shore eclipses him.

###### 

Riku’s world is forever changed that endless night when Sora cuts through the darkness, saving his ass. The light is brilliant, and it all radiates out from the determined glint in Sora’s eyes. There, in the Realms of Darkness, where the immeasurable shadow snuffs out all light from one’s soul—where the fortress of oppressive feelings dwarfs and squashes any living being so unfortunate as to get sucked into it—now stands Sora, tall as a mountain, vibrant as the sun itself, and fierce as a storm, guarding him.

Yes, at the foot of that gargantuan monolith of Sora's friendship—his eternal devotion, and… _love_ —everything changes for Riku.

###### 

As Riku watches his once-rival-now-turned-dearest-and-most-precious friend leave the Mysterious Tower to stop Xehanort once and for all, Riku halts him, "Sora, I—" 

"Yes?" Brilliant blue summer eyes shine back at him.

Riku stares, frozen in awe at the burning love and devotion blazing in Sora’s eyes—despite the ineffable amount of hurt and pain and darkness he has endured. Riku is rendered speechless. All his words and feelings stick in his throat. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. "It's… nothing. I'll tell you later." 

There are more pressing issues at hand. He'll broach the full ache in his chest when he sees Sora again. After all, they will always find each other and won't be apart for too long.

Sora’s chipper smile bursts across his face, but this time, it doesn't soothe Riku as he follows his best friend into the unknown one more time.


End file.
